Judges At The U.s. Supreme Court Have Rejected An Appeal From Clothing Retailers In A Longrunning Dispute Over Bob Marley's Image Rights.

The Exodus icon's children previously set up Fifty-Six Hope Road Music to take care of the late star's assets, rights and commercial interests and they granted an exclusive license to bosses at Zion Rootswear to produce Marley-branded memorabilia.

In 2008, they took executives at A.V.E.L.A. to court over a collection of rival products which featured an image of Marley purchased from a photographer in 2004. Permission to use the photo was subsequently granted to designers at apparel companies Jem Sportswear and Central Mills Inc., known as Freeze, who used it for T-shirts and other items, which were all sold at U.S. retailers like Target and Walmart.

A federal jury in Nevada ruled in the Marley family's favour in 2011, and awarded substantial damages for counts of false endorsement and interference of prospective economic advantage.

An appeal was dismissed in February (15), but the defendants decided to pursue the case in the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices again rejected their efforts on Monday (02Nov15).

Upholding the lower court's previous ruling, officials declared the designers had violated federal trademark law by using Marley's image without his estate's permission.